Beefing topsails



UNIT I STATS PAINT FFICE.

DONALD MCLEAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHISETTS, ASSIGNOR T() IIIMSELF, ANI)SAMUEL GREEN AND NATHAN AIES, OF SAUG US, MASSACHUSETTS.

REEFING TOPSAILS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,225, dated January 26, 1858.

To all fwLomit may concern Be it known that I, DONALD MCLEAN, of Boston,in the county of Suffolk and Oommonwealth of Massachusetts, haveinvented a new and useful Arrangement of Means for Reeng Topsails fromthe Deck; and I do hereby declare that the following is a Jfull, clear,and exact description of the construction and operation of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification.

Figure 1 is a front view of the apparat-us, representing the sail Vaspartially reefed. Fig. 2 is a section showing more fully the applicationof the rolling supporter, D.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willnow proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The mast A; the main-yard F; the top- `sail-yard G; the'top-sailhalyards J, and

bolt-ropeK, are all similar to those in common use.

B, the revolving jack-yard, is a cylinder, either of wood, or (what Iconsider still better) ot metallic tubing so as to combine the greatestamount of strength with the least amount of weight. The ends of B, asseen in Fig. l, are furnished with journals passing through, and turningin, the metallic hangers, H,-`the latter' being bolted, or confined inany suitable manner, to the topsail yard, G.

' S, the sail, is cut like those in common use, but instead ot' itsupper edge, or headrope being nailed toa fixed ack-yard, it is drawnover the revolving cylinder, B, by means of the reef-lines, C O C, asrepresented in Fig. 1,-said lines passing down to the deck and made fastto belaying pins.

L L L, are rings, or cringles, fast to the foot-rope of the sail, theirobject being to guide the reet-lines, C O C, and pull the sail in such amanner as to prevent its wrinkling.

D is a grooved roller, turning freely on the stiff metallic hanger, orstaple, I I, whose upper ends are tast in the top-sail yard G. As willbe seen in Fig. 2, there are two ot' these rollers, one front, and theother back, of the sail. The object ot vthe rollers is to support therevolving jack-yard, B, and prevent it from bending, as it otherwisewould do, unless it were made too large and heavy. If necessary. severalof these rollers may be used, at various distances from the center ofthe yard.

E is a large central rope sewed fast to the sail. Said rope, as seen inFig. l, passes under the roller D, in the groove (l, and therebyprevents the sail from slipping laterally. It is obvious that, insteadof grooving the rollerD, a groove may be made .in the revolvingjack-yard B, and answer the same purpose.

Operation: In order to reet the sail it is only necessary for a man, ormen, on deck, to let go the top-sail halyards and simultaneously pulldown the reefing lines L L L, when it is obvious that the sail willdouble over itself, more or less, as may be desired. It is also plainthat the sail may be clewed up and furled, in the usual manner.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent isThe arrangement, substantially as described, of the revolving jack-yard,B, and the reet-lines, C, whereby the sail is reeted by simply doublingover itself, instead ot" being rolled, or tied up.

DONALD MCLEAN. lVitnesses GEO. H. SMITH, N. AMES.

